Presently, hospitals and other health care facilities have significant disposal problems with the soft wastes generated from surgical and medical procedures. Typically, during a single operation, the discarded surgical gowns, patient drapes, Mayo stand covers and other paper and plastic articles fill approximately three fifty-gallon waste receptacles. The receptacles are typically lined with a plastic bag, which, upon being filled, are closed and stored in a box of some manner, typically a corrugated box. Due to the fact that the blood soaked gowns, drapes and other articles could be infected with contagious and potentially deadly diseases, the waste articles are not disposed of in a typical fashion. Rather, they are packaged for shipment by truck or rail car to disposal sites which are designed for such contagious materials. The soft wastes are thereafter incinerated or stored for future disposal.
Problems encountered in the past with the disposal of waste articles concerned the large volume of air present in the shipping containers. Typically, when the disposable refuse is shipped via truck, the truck is only at 30-35% of its payload due to the low density of the packaged material being shipped. It is desireable to increase the density of the shipping containers, such that more refuse may be shipped with each load and thus increase the truck's payload closer to its maximum. It would be desirable to have the truck's payload be 70-80% of its maximum, thus resulting in the truck carrying more waste material each run. This results in fewer truck runs, translating into less fuel being used and more efficient transportation.
Further problems are encountered with the presence of corrugated boxes present in an operating room. Due to the high degree of sterility required, the presence of fibers from the boxes results in an unacceptable environment. Thus, the boxes must be wax-coated to diminish the likelihood that any free fibers will break free from the box. Thus, to avoid any possibility of fiber-contamination, it is desirable not to have any corrugated boxes present in the operating room.
Furthermore, it is desirable to increase the density of the refuse deposited in the hazardous waste disposal sites. There is limited space available for the disposal of such waste, and thus it is desirable to have the refuse in a compact and high density package.
The general concept of filling a bag with an article or articles, closing the bag and then orally drawing air through a separate valve to evacuate the bag of air and collapse the bag around the article is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,226. This patent generally discloses a bag with one end heat sealed and the other end open, articles being put in the bag, the open end tied off with wire tape and the entrapped air being evacuated from the bag through an oral evacuation means. However, this would not be an effective nor a safe method for infectious waste items.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,227 shows a system for handling bags filled with medical waste wherein the bags are collected and transported between a steam sterilizer and a trash compactor. U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,982 shows a container for collecting infectious waste wherein the container has a venting system for drawing off air when the lid of the container is shut and as it is being opened. U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,117 discloses the use of a bag that acts as a filter wherein air borne particles are drawn through the bag which then acts as a filter to collect the particles. However, none of these patents recognize or present any solution to the problem of packaging infectious soft goods.
There is a need for a method and apparatus for evacuating and collapsing a bag for transport. The increased use of disposable items in the health industries and other industries results in a need to effectively and economically package these wastes and dispose of them in an efficient manner.